THURSDAY FEBRUARY 22 @ 7 pmOur Lady of Peace, 620 Amboy Avenue, Fords, NJ 08837. SOLEMN HIGH LATIN MASS FOR THE FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE (at Antioch), Rev. David V. Skoblow, Celebrant. Schola and choir under the direction of Mr. Anthony R. Nardino of St. Peter’s New Brunswick, NJ, assisted by Mr. Peter A. Carter, of St. John the Baptist, Allentown, NJ. Dessert, coffee and fellowship to follow at the Convivium in the church hall below the sanctuary.

This Sunday, February 4, at 3 pm is the first of a series of Rosary concerts at St. Mary’s Norwalk. This week’s concert, dedicated to the Joyful Mysteries, features David Hughes, St. Mary’s Church music director, on the organ.

Father Hernan Ducci of the Fraternity of Saint Joseph the Guardian will preach a Lenten retreat based on the Ignatian Exercises at the Church of Saint John the Baptist, located at 1282 Yardville-Allentown Road, in Allentown, New Jersey. The Spiritual Exercises comprise an ordered series of meditations and contemplations born from the profound spiritual experience St Ignatius, gained from his conversion and his time as the first Superior General of the Society of Jesus. These exercises purpose to help the retreatant discern God’s will for his own life.

In addition to the meditations, the traditional Mass will be sung each day, as well as parts of the Divine Office; there will also be plenty of opportunities for spiritual direction and Confession.

The retreat will begin in the early afternoon of Friday, February 16 and finish on the afternoon of Sunday, February 18, with the parish choral Vespers. (The First Sunday of Lent, President’s day weekend.) In order to cover the expenses (Fr. Hernan’s travel from France, food, donation to the parish, etc) we suggest a donation of $60. Also, please bring a sleeping bag.

The award last year of the Papal “Equestrian order of St Gregory the Great“ to Lillian Ploumen, one of the best known international agitators for contraception, abortion and homosexuality – and prominent adversary of President Trump as well – made social media waves this week. Of course, the Vatican, the mainstream media and the “Catholic press” initially ignored the matter, as they do most other unfavorable news about the Pope.

It does seem to be true that membership in this “order” is handed out like party favors – mostly, it seems, to those who give a lot of money or are active in Catholic organizations. But the recipients are informed that they have received a grand and extraordinary Catholic award from the Holy Father himself, e.g.:

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has announced that Pope Francis has bestowed Papal Honors upon 45 individuals for their dedication and exceptional service to the World Meeting of Families Philadelphia-2015 and the pastoral visit of the Holy Father to Philadelphia.

Two have been named Dame/Knight Grand Cross in the Order of St. Gregory the Great; 19 have been named Dame/Knight in the Order of St. Gregory the Great…..

SOURCE: Catholic Philly.com, By Lou Baldwin • Posted October 25, 2016

(July 10, 2017)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (CNS) — An Arizona couple who have spent nearly three decades defending religious freedom in the United States and around the world are new members of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great.

Alan and Paula Sears were honored for their work with Alliance Defending Freedom during vespers June 29 at St. Bernadette Church in suburban Phoenix. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix presided over the ceremony.

Investiture in the order is the highest honor the church bestows on laypeople and is given in recognition of extraordinary service to the Vatican.

Hand in hand, the couple approached the altar. Bishop Olmsted asked them if they were willing to maintain “unswerving fidelity” to God and the pope, to which they responded in unison, “I do.” He read the English translation of the proclamation of the church signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

The bishop blessed the insignia of the order and sprinkled it with holy water. He turned to the Searses and declared, “In the name of Holy Father Francis, I hereby invest you with the insignia of a Knight of St. Gregory the Great. He pinned the eight-pointed cross on Alan’s jacket, then turned and pronounced Paula a dame of St. Gregory the Great before pinning on her insignia.

The couple received a standing ovation from the congregation. The Searses joined the company of fellow members of the order G.K. Chesterton, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Bob Hope. Pope Gregory XVI established the order in 1831.

Pope Francis has bestowed papal honors upon 28 women and men in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for their dedication and exceptional service to the church, it was announced last week.

Nine have been named Dame or Knight in the Order of St. Gregory the Great…..

Each of the honorees “has performed some exceptional service for the church or offered some form of outstanding Christian witness in a generous and sustained way – in education, philanthropy, diaconal and religious life, prolife and vocations work, social ministry, and other apostolates,” said Archbishop Chaput. “Each has earned the gratitude of the Holy Father and our whole Catholic community.”

Three members of the archdiocese’s Central Papal Visit Office received papal honors for their work in planning and executing the visit of Pope Francis to the Archdiocese of New York this past September.

Alfred Kelly, chairman of the archdiocese’s papal visit team, and his wife, Margaret, were designated as Knight and Dame of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great.

“Following last June’s trip, Lilianne Ploumen was made a Dame in the pontifical order of St Gregory the Great, a move which some have interpreted as Pope Francis honouring a prominent abortion campaigner.

But in a statement the Holy See stressed the award was given as part of the “diplomatic practice of the exchange of honours” following official visits to the Vatican and is not in the “slightest” way an “approval” of “politics in favour of abortion and of birth control that Mrs Ploumen promotes.”

A Vatican source explained to The Tablet that Ms Ploumen’s award was not personally designated to her but given out to senior figures in the delegation, which accompanied King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. The source emphasised that it was not personally authorised or initiated by the Pope.

Following the visit, the source explained, the Holy See’s protocol office suggested exchanging the honours given the historic nature of the visit and the new areas of collaboration now taking place between the Vatican and a traditionally Protestant country. Senior officials of the Holy See – but not the Pope – received honours from the Dutch in exchange.

“It was meant to mark a new chapter of collaboration on peace, climate, human rights and poverty alleviation,” the source explained.

It was also incorrect to say, as the former development minister claims, that it was a “high award” that came directly from the Pope.

Papal knighthoods and associated honours are normally granted following recommendations of the local Church, and their issuing is not something the Pope would normally be involved with. A champion of the poor, Francis does not show much interest in the Catholic honours system and is wary of the chivalric networks of privilege inside the Church.” (My emphasis – SC)

So it’s all very clear – there’s really no problem! On this occasion, the order of St Gregory had been handed out indiscriminately to every senior member of a visiting governmental delegation regardless, it seems, of their views on anything. Which the “Vatican sources” defend as entirely appropriate “given the historic nature of the visit.” In any case, the pope was not involved with bestowing these decorations; indeed, he does not show much interest in the Catholic honors system at all.

This all sounds very unconvincing to me – undoubtedly much more has to come to light here. Especially after John Allen, another Bergoglio mouthpiece, had just informed us that Francis watches anxiously over every detail of everything in the Vatican. Please note, moreover, that the formerly “dissenting” Tablet is now used by “Vatican sources” as the preferred vehicle to respond to the story. One does wonder, however, why the author of this piece gets so worked up about those allegedly using this incident to impugn the character of the Pope – after all, hasn’t the Tablet itself come out recently in favor of some kind of Via media in effect permitting “safe and rare” abortion?

One wonders what the other recipients of the order of St Gregory think about the Vatican’s description of their award and of the new recipient? And what do those soon about to embark on the March for Life think about an event, which, at a minimum, shows that the Vatican assigns pro-life activity an entirely different priority? And what of those who still revere Francis as a religious leader – indeed, even as the “Light of the World?” For these last are truly the greatest suckers of all.

The birth, as told in the Gospel of Luke, was heralded by an angel, whose words to the shepherds of Bethlehem were, “Be not afraid, for I bring you tidings of great joy.” The Gospel of Matthew tells us of the three wise men from the East who, guided by a star, visited the babe bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This is the story of Christmas that we, as Christians, need to tell. We need to be sure that our children know it, that it’s emphasized in religious education classes—and in our homes.

(….)

As for the four biblical stories outlined above, Catholics generally had a high level of belief, but there too, the numbers are trending downward. In 2017, 83 percent said they believe in the virgin birth (86 percent in 2014), 82 percent said an angel announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds (90 percent), 80 percent said wise men guided by a star brought Jesus gifts (84 percent), and 87 percent said Jesus was laid in a manger (92 percent). In 2014, 76 percent said they believed all four elements happened; in 2017, 71 percent said that. While those numbers are not dramatically poor, the survey found that millennials, including Christian millennials, are less likely than older respondents to believe all four biblical stories. We don’t want to wring our hands over these numbers, but we do want to open our eyes and try to halt or even reverse the slide. The Christmas story, after all, is the start of what has been called The Greatest Story Ever Told.

This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany on which we hear the familiar story of the
Magi, those ancient astronomers who follow a divine GPS to discover the One they are searching
for. Although scripture scholars remind us that this is not a historical event but rather an infancy
narrative pregnant with theological and scriptural meaning, the journey of the Magi has captured
the imagination of artists through the centuries. It is also timely in our own age when there are
so many people who are refugees and immigrants, people fleeing from poverty and the ravages
of war.

Fr VerEecke does not occupy at all some kind of “fringe” position in the New York Archdiocese. On the contrary, the very same Catholic New York reports favorably on the performance of his dance production at the Sheen center in 2016 and 2017. (The Jesuit head of America Media sits on the board of the Sheen center)

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